If the title, cover and review interest me I want to read the first page and find out if the writing is really the story they're trying to sell me (it isn't always). I've finally learned that I don't have to finish every book I start..I can stop reading a book I don't like.

Allison, the ADA doesn't normally do book reviews but I will contact the editor of the ADA News(letter) and inquire more. Partnering with the ADA is a great suggestion and I have a publicity person who may be able to help me. Thank you for that suggestion.

I read a book one time because of the title.
I didn't even read the back of it and when I read the book, I now pick up different authors instead of the same ole same ole.
I love the Wizard of Oz movie and the title of the book was "Follow the yellow Brick Road" and maybe Allison would like this one to read as not only is it about Domestic Violence, it is a woman writer who's mother was a very well known singer writer in the Christian genre.
Very well written book and very down to earth.

Dianne and Chatty, you would love this one too.

Nancy

Thanks, Nancy. I'll check into it. Who was her mother?

Great feedback about how we select our books. I, too, am an “impulse book buyer.” Like many of us on this thread, I‘m a visual person and look at a cover first. Then, I read the back cover copy…which brings me to a great writing exercise I want to share with y’all.

If you currently have a book project in mind, or if you’ve already written a book (this goes for both fiction and non-fiction) I encourage you to sit down and write your own BACK COVER COPY. Writing this tight is a lot harder than you think.

This is such a good exercise, that I have begun to include this text as a section in ALL of my book proposals. BACK COVER COPY has its own heading in my book proposals and this is where I include my “grab you by the seat of your pants short-n-sweet overview.” This text block must be no more than 200 words maximum and its better if it’s between 100-150 words. As you can see, this isn’t a complete overview, or even a synopses…it’s exactly what it’s called, BACK COVER COPY.

Of course this does NOT mean this is the actual back cover copy that will eventually go on your book, but if it’s good, the publisher will gladly use it, or at least incorporate aspects of it within the back cover copy they will produce. Remember, when we write we must always have our target market readers in mind. When writing back cover copy your target market is the reader who has picked up your book from a ga-zillion other books on the shelf. Perhaps they liked the cover design, maybe the title spoke to them, maybe the author who wrote the endorsement quote on the cover is a favorite, or maybe even the color of the cover caught their eye…whatever the reason, picture someone standing in an airport bookstore, or in Wal-Mart, or at their local chain bookstore, or maybe they are sitting at their desk and reading the cover blurbs online at Amazon.com. Got that picture of your target market in your mind? Okay, now, you have less than one minute to grab this particular readers’ attention. Less than one minute, ladies.

See why back cover copy is so vital? Try this writing exercise and let us know on this thread how it worked for you. This is an especially good writing exercise for books in progress…even if you’ve only just begun and aren’t even certain how your book will end.

The first back cover copy that I wrote for my debut novel, A Stitch in Time, was 352 words. It conveyed the overall gist of the book for the publishers…but it was too long. Here it is:

As a successful fund-raising executive in Southern California, Dee Decker’s glamorous job revolves around one gala event after another. In a world populated by highly competitive, impossibly thin, perfectly coiffed, designer outfitted women who lunch-for-a-living, Dee is extremely overweight but nonetheless has a well-earned reputation of being cool, calm, collected and in control. That is until she discovers her husband has been having an affair and their two spoiled adult children who still live at home knew all about it. A Stitch in Time spotlights the disintegration of a family without faith and their survival as Dee embarks on a journey of transformational change and self-discovery.

After leaving her husband and moving into the beautifully furnished home of a business associate in the city of Orange, Dee undergoes gastric bypass surgery and in less than one year loses 150 pounds. Several plastic surgeries ensue, and in a short time Dee truly does become another person—all the while taking on more and more special event responsibilities including the development of a major fundraising campaign for a soon-to-be non-profit arts organization in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Back and forth she travels—from one state—one world—to another. Is divorce the answer? How could she have raised such horrid kids? Is the grass really greener on the other side? Who’s in control? As her past and present collide, forcing her to make painful decisions about the future, Dee experiences a significant spiritual shift—an occurrence that changes not only her life, but eventually the lives of her family as well.

Narrated in Dee’s smart, refreshingly transparent voice, Stitch takes us on a journey of the painful, poignant and sometimes hilarious self-image struggles that impact Dee’s understanding of life, marriage, faith, family, and forgiveness.

A Stitch in Time raises the questions of what happens when we strive to be perfect in an imperfect world—when our insecurities, fears, and the inability to forgive, keep us distanced from those we love. Dee’s focus on outer beauty and self-improvement leads her to discover a timeless truth—a truth that will bring inner beauty and change her life.

– The End –

While the above text was NOT used on the back cover, my publisher (Bethany House Publishing) used sections of it in their catalog, in press releases, and shared it with their distributors and sales team. This tight overview enabled their team to better visualize the book.

Now, this is the back cover copy that actually appeared on the book. It is 90 words long.

Dee is out to prove that a middle-aged Christian woman can be faithful, fashionable, and fabulous! In the course of one year Dee Decker…has gastric bypass surgery and loses 150 pounds…separates from her husband…buys a whole new wardrobe…flourishes in her glamorous fundraiser job…and becomes a Christian. She’s a new person inside and out, and her future looks bright. But then a job offer sends her life in a direction she hadn’t expected. Her past and present are about to collide in a major way…and Dee didn’t bring the right shoes! - The End -

Okey dokey. I’ll close this posting and come back with a response to the question about how God Allows U-Turns got started.

Oh, and, Queen Jaw-Jaw? Just read the back cover copy on your book: “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Throne,” and it clearly conveys what the book is about. Good job! The endorsement quotes are also written in such a way as to tell me what this book is about, not just what the endorser thought about the book. If anyone wants to discuss the topic of “the value of endorsement quotes in book proposals and on book covers,” please post the question and I’ll talk more about that.

Onward!

How God Allows U-Turns Began

I would almost bet everyone of us has had an idea at some point in our life that we DID NOT follow-up on and suddenly one day we see that idea in the flesh, developed by someone else, and we say, “I thought of that! Why didn’t I jump on that idea when I had it?”

Am I right?

The key to accomplishing ANYTHING is to take the pro-active first steps needed to make a dream idea become a reality. Let me clarify that. For those of us with creative minds, getting brainstorm ideas is a pretty commonplace occurrence. And not all of those brainstorm ideas are really viable once we talk ourselves through them. Not only are many of them NOT viable, but often when we give a brainstorm idea some careful thought, we find ourselves losing interest almost immediately.

That’s because many initial brainstorm ideas don’t grab us by the heart strings. But it’s those brainstorm ideas that won’t leave our mind…those creative ideas that continue to invade our thoughts…and begin to take over places in our heart and soul…that we must listen to. It’s those ideas we have that we mull over day in and day out…that we wake up thinking about and go to sleep dreaming about…it’s those brainstorm ideas that we need to listen to. It’s those brainstorm ideas that we need to follow-up on and take pro-active first steps to make reality.

That’s how it was for me and God Allows U-Turns as it is known today.

The title was initially associated with my memoir…my life journey about coming from decades of aimless searching to a place of faith that transformed my life. But that book never sold. I couldn’t get an agent, publishers turned it down, and I didn’t have the money (or the desire) to self-publish it. But I knew that reading the real-life testimonies of other men and women empowered me in my early walk of faith. I soaked up every true story I could find on how people came from a place of non-belief to belief. Books like “Born Again” by Chuck Colson, “Stormie” by Stormie Omartian, “Just One Victory” by Becky Tirabassi, and “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis, to name a few.

I knew in my heart that reading true stories of over-comers brought hope and healing to readers. Yet while my story may have been a powerful testimony to God’s redemptive love, I was basically an unknown entity in the publishing world.

One day the idea came to me that perhaps it would be better to include my personal story in a collection of true short stories. Surely someone was publishing true short stories about people who had over-come really hard-core obstacles like addiction, abuse, abortion, and so on. And so I went in search of a faith-based anthology where I could send my story. At that time (2000) there were only a few anthologies in the CBA market…and none of them were accepting true short stories that dealt with the nitty-gritty hard-core issues of life. Instead, they were mostly inspiring and hopeful collections that contained the safe, warm and fuzzy stories that Christians had grown accustomed to.

The light bulb went off over my head.

But was this just another brainstorm idea that in time would fade away…only to replaced by another brainstorm idea? Or was this one different? And if so, what made it different?

I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind. It took hold of my heart and soul. It became my passion. Was the faith-based community ready for a collection of true short stories that approached the sensitive issues that folks had been hiding in their closets for years? Was the time right to expose the ugly skeletons in our closets and really talk about what redemption and salvation was all about?

That’s when I began in earnest to do the research, to develop a plan, to fill one legal pad after another with notes, ideas, concepts and strategy. That’s when I began to read books on marketing, publishing, development and such. That’s when I began taking classes and attending seminars on Internet marketing and web site development. That’s when I began to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for my outreach and then a full-blown book proposal to present my new brainstorm idea to a group of literary agents in search of the one agent who would capture my vision and help me traverse the waters of the publishing world.

I worked hard. I prayed hard. I took pro-active steps to turn my brainstorm dream into a reality. I called my new book series concept: GOD ALLOWS U-TURNS – True Stories of Hope and Healing.

Ladies, we all have dreams. We all have passions. For those of us who write, it’s a matter of taking that first step from thinking about writing to actually writing. Gulp. From knowing in the back of our mind that in today’s world the marketing and promoting of a book by the author is a vital component and therefore if we don’t know a thing about that aspect, then we must do what it takes to learn about it. If we don't know how to write a professional book proposal, then we need to do what it takes to learn how to write a professional book proposal. Today, countless resources are at our fingertips. Today, doing what it takes has never been easier.

Doing what it takes.

That’s the bottom line of how God Allows U-Turns began. With an idea. A brainstorm idea that wouldn’t let me go. A passion that needed commitment from me to go from dream to reality.

Do you have something that won’t let you go? Dotsie Bregel had a brainstorm idea to start an international web site for baby boomer women. A grand and glorious idea, to be sure. But do you think she suddenly woke up one day and it went from dream to reality? Hardly. It took a great deal of work. But she started with that first step of commitment to make it happen.

It’s never too late to achieve our dreams, ladies. Never. We’re never too old to learn something new. Never. That said, I’ll bid you a fond adieu for the day and let’s connect again soon!

God’s peace to all, and bless your day!

WOW! What an inspiring post. Thanks for the lovely answer. Am I right in saying that you weren't a writer when this brainstorm took off? And through hard work and determination, you are writing book proposal after book proposal and getting published left and right.

My story is similar. I launched BWS to give my generation of women a voice. My original intention was to use this as a portal for collecting stories for an anthology, very similar to idea. I even developed it as a series; Boomer Women Speak About Being Single at Midlife, Boomer Women Speak About the 60s, Boomer Women Speak About Their Childhoods, Boomer Women SPeak About Caring for Their Elders, and so on.

Allsion, I did all the very same things you did. I read and researched like a vulture. I found an agent, Carol Susan Roth, through lots of hard work and determination. I have a drawer full of rejections from agents, but I finally found one. She shopped the book to very top publishing houses and it didn't sell.

People ask if I'm disappointed. I can honestly say I am not. Many of the stories have been published on this site. In additon to that, I know I'm giving women a voice which was my original intention. God just had other plans. Like an associaiton too. Whodathunk? Surely, not me.

All I've done is pray and listen to what God is calling me to do. That's my biggest message. Unless we are still, we may never hear our true calling that allows us to use our God-given gifts for His glory and the good of all people.

Anyway, I continue to work with my agent and I believe I'm getting nearer to the book God is calling me to write. He never ceases to amaze me.

Onward with grace - ladies!

I agree WOW! I'm getting really excited. I can't wait to concentrate fully on my writing. What fantastic tips you have given Allison. And they all make so much sense.

What an interesting story, Dotsie. Was it because of your rejections that you started BWS? Well, then that is a perfect example of having something good come out of the bad. I was just wondering if you have totally given up on finding a publisher?

No, I launched the site first to gather stories for the book. So all at once, I was designing a site, learning how to write the perfect book proposal, understanding what makes a book sell, what agents are looking for in writers, what publishers are looking for from writers and agents, etc. I've loved every second of it.

And to think....I taught both those women everything they know.........what? Okay, I'm lying. Hey, thanks Allison for the kudos on the back cover. If there's one thing I've learned it is that a book is truly a labor of love. I'm like Dots, I've loved every single minute, every step, even the obstacles.

To add to what Allison so eloquently stated above, I've heard that success is a decision, the journey is the result of that decision. Here's a toast to your journey's, my friends!

Allison,

It seems that some authors get that first book out there and then struggle to come up with another one. Why do you think this happens?